Ep. #19: Challenges Facing Facility Managers

This episode of Right from the Source features Joel Lotzpike, the Vice President of Strategic Accounts at Right. He discusses challenges in the of experience and how they can rise to the occasion. You're listening to right from the source, expert insights on safety, security, program. energy savings and environmental control.

Welcome listeners. This is Right from the Source. And with us today, we have Joel Lotspike with Right Hype. And Joel, thanks for being here today. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. So Joel, uh tell us a little bit about yourself, starting with your title and your focus in the industry. Sure.

I'm the uh Vice President of Strategic Accounts for Right Height. What that really means is I kinda head up our national account program as well as our national service program and manage some of those folks that uh that manage those programs as well. Been in the business uh with ReitHight um most of twenty-two years. Um so those are my focuses, how long I've been with it from a hobbies, uh passion perspective. I'm really into live music, uh really into golf and sports.

And uh there's a serious lack of all that right now. Yeah, you might be hurting a little bit, but we all are. We all are. So let's start diving into some of our questions here. Uh and with today's topic, uh we're looking at facilities management. So can you tell us a little bit about the different types of facilities that Right Height works with regularly?

Yeah, yeah, it it it's a varied group. Probably the the one that we got m focused on initially was was manufacturing. Obviously that's a broad brush. It could be anything from heavy which we would concern to be construction business, the automotive business.

um steel production, those kinds of things, light industrial, electronics, um all those different kinds of things. So anything where they're basically fabricating something, finished goods going out the door either for consumer consumption or for for B2B consumption. So a lot of those out there Certainly uh a lot of process facilities and the one that comes to mind in a lot of cases is food. So that that being a consumer-based product that ends up on our plates at the end of the day.

Just anything where you're taking something and and they're and changing the finished product uh to to make it a consumable. Um warehouse and distribution facilities can be somewhat interchangeable. Certainly with e-commerce being more and more of a factor, we're seeing a huge flux in in warehouse, both in new construction and tenants moving into existing buildings. So e again that's where could be just where uh a a company stores

raw goods that then goes to a manufacturing facility or it could be someplace where you're storing something that's going to go to a end user and or a uh a consumer. Um obviously there's the the behemoth that comes around every day that you know puts packages on our port. And and and more and more of those are coming. Certainly with the pandemic in place, we're seeing more of those customers sort of

start to pivot a little bit that might be more retail based for more e-commerce. So we look at those kinds of facilities to a lesser degree commercial. It'd be light commercial, but for the most part we're not really in the retail game for the most part. But we we do do some of that business because they'll have to get product in and out of those buildings.

Whether it be food, whether it be electronics, and whether those kinds of retail facilities. So it does run the gamut, but it they all fit into a customer base for us. Obviously a a lot of different verticals here, a lot of different industries that we're talking about.

So with this next question, um I guess I'd ask you to use maybe an example or two of of a couple of those different things, the role of facility management for for these kinds of facilities.

If you wanna go and use one of those verticals as an example perhaps to kinda dig a little bit deeper. Sure. Well if you don't mind I maybe I'll kinda take it the opposite way. Sort of sort of the underlying every facility manager is gonna have it regardless of the the the I guess the purpose of the building, they're gonna be responsible for the maintenance and the upkeep of that building, whether it's the roof, the walls, the equipment that's in there.

that makes the products, the the anything that's in there from the from the landscaping to the snow removal to upkeep of any operating pieces of equipment that are in there, obviously inclusive of loading docks and doors and things of that nature. So At the core, that's sort of what a facility manager does. It's going to vary by facility because there's different pieces of equipment that are in there, there's different purposes of the building.

Certainly when you look at it at heavy equipment um you're going to have a lot of process machinery. Now you may have an operations team that's sort of is in charge of some of that procurement, but in the end of the day, usually they're tasked with taking care of that equipment, whether it be ours, whether it be something that's helping them fabricate m end user product.

But they're all going to also look at at certainly um energy consumption and making sure that they're they're on the right page there. Everybody's obviously very in tune to that. In terms of food processing, there's a lot of different things they're going to be concerned about in terms of air infiltration, white light coming into the building. They're going to have an audit and an inspection process that's going to be way different.

than a facility that's making, you know, automobiles uh and those kinds of things. So they're prone to a lot more, especially with the Food Safety Monetization Act that rolled around a few years ago. And the fact that they're responsible for basically making sure that the supply chain is accounted from from the standpoint

where it's made in which is a farm generally speaking and then getting to them and then getting back out, they have to account for that product. So making sure that specifically the loading dock area, making sure that it's tight.

And that the air infiltration is there, th and and making sure that there's there's there's adherence to those kinds of things. So there's a lot of different things that are responsible for that and in in a lot of those depending on the size of the facility, right? You could have a facility that's smaller production facility where they might be the facility manager and the plant.

A larger facility, those those those roles are likely delineated and they they more work in concert with one another more than likely. So it it varies by facility, but some there are some core responsibilities of the organization. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about the role maybe that uh safety uh plays into what a facility manager might be looking at?

The safety folks are certainly responsible for recognizing hazards, recognizing the things that they need to be compliant with, whether it be OSHA or or local safety codes. And then if you talk about the different, you know, things that they're responsible for, whether it be procurement of equipment, whether it being procedure, The the facility manager's responsibilities laying that out correctly, making sure that the workers are staying safe, making sure that when they're doing work.

that they had the right tools to in terms of maintaining the facility of also complying with the things that the safety manager is responsible for. Generally speaking the the the marching orders are kinda given by safety in terms of'cause there's a lot of different minutia that's out there and for somebody who's taking care of a building to be responsible for that oftentimes is counterproductive.

So they're gonna take the lead and make sure that the various things that they're responsible for Are then in in line with what how the safety folks are trying to do their job and and and making sure that everybody's staying safe and complying with it.

Staying out of OSH's ways. Right. As as best he can, no doubt. I in terms of purchasing equipment, how do facility managers uh how are they involved in that and what should they be looking for in a a supplier? Facility managers certainly are involved in in in capital purchases. Smaller purchases they may or may not, that budget may come from some of the subject.

divisions that might be underneath him or departments for lack of a better term. But certainly because that individual is gonna be responsible for the lifetime ownership of that that piece of equipment, they're involved in those kinds of purchases for sure.

If you look at it, those are certainly some of the things that they going back to the safety thing, they want to make sure that what they're doing i is going to look for the safety compliance now, safety compliance later, with the help of safety. Oftentimes When we're in a situation for a capital purchase, there's a there's a committee given a sort of an opportunity to chime in based on what their responsibilities are in the facility. And so they certainly are involved in the process.

What are they looking for? What are some some key things that a supplier might be able to to kinda tip the scale and say, you know, like hey we've got, you know, safe equipment, we've got equipment that can be productive, we've got long lasting equipment that can be in your facility for a decade plus.

Yeah, I I think you know one of the things that that certainly we're asked to do on a regular basis is ask what sort of is the next step in terms of what we're doing and how it helps them. So looking for for

Partner suppliers, they're looking, you know, innovate the product, innovate what they're doing, and providing solutions down the road. Certainly everybody's always asking that we're making sure we're focused on safety. That's a hallmark of what we've done for the 50 plus years we've been in business.

We think we're the leader in that business in terms of partnership. If somebody's got a a safety rich culture in their facility, you know, they're they're a very good partner for us and somebody that that should we should look for and vice versa. A lot of our innovation has come from customer. Customer comes with a problem. haven't seen it before and then we try to, you know, task our engineers and our research and R and D folks.

Here's the problem. We've seen it before. Let's come up with a solution. And then that allows us to replicate that sort of uh feature benefit for customers down the road. So I I think that's a real good fit for us. Going back to lifetime ownership costs, um, you know, warranty is really important to make sure that as long as the product's being maintained, you know, that's gonna lower the lifetime ownership costs of the product. And and that goes

kind of in in the same vein, if if you're looking for a partner, you should also look for a partner who who's going to be able to supply, you know, maintenance. Um we we think we think maintenance is an incredibly important part of it. It we talk about it in all of our manuals.

In in most people that are forward thinking realize that, you know, you can't drive your car without getting your oil chains and all the different things that you do around your house and your H V C and all those things. Well that applies on a more macro level, certainly when you get into an industrial building. So

We really pushed the maintenance part of it and I think that you should the you know the facility bars uh managers are looking for partners that can provide both the upfront material equipment and the and the maintenance aspect.

I was gonna ask you about some of that maintenance aspect and and being able to not only provide this kind of equipment but then to to service it really for the long haul. I mean can you talk about some of the uh advantages Yeah. I mean th there's kind of two different kinds of service, right? There's the reactive service, something's broke.

Call me up, we're gonna fix it kind of deal, which and we're certainly there for that, and that's and we're very good at that and we have more trucks on the road than than uh than we can count. However, you know, the one of the things that allows you to sort of mitigate some of those broke we need to fix it kind of things is is plan making.

Uh and it doesn't uh predictive might be a bit of a misnomer, but at the very least it allows you to take care of things before they become larger So, you know, we're recommending somebody take a look at it and we've got based on each piece of equipment, whether it's ours or somebody else's.

We would like to look at that piece of equipment two or four times a year to make sure that it's at OEM levels that it was when it first got in your building, we're taken care of if you're a food processing facilities, the gaps and things that might be present. you know, that it could cause you dings and audits. But at the end of the day those are the things that that that sort of allow you to control costs. It also can allow you to to um

for lack of a better term, plan for capital. So something's getting towards the end of its life cycle, you know, you're gonna have notes from those planned maintenance and they're gonna say, Hey, at some point the next three to five years you should probably think about budgeting for this. So

A capital expenditure doesn't become a surprise, allows you for budgeting, and the budgeting processes are different for different organizations. So all those go hand in hand, allowing you to control costs or at least plan for. The other thing some people look for, um certainly if we're looking for a larger organization that might have

An enterprise that for lack of a better term, I would use that term a little bit too much today, uh has dots on the map around the country. You know, and they they want to have a uniform look and feel, both from an equipment standpoint and a maintenance standpoint. We've got programs in place to help out with both of those.

So we can we can do audits for them, we can do uh surveys for them, those kinds of things. In addition to the fact, you know, some of the folks are looking for one point of contact. for all their facilities to come out and do service. So several years ago, after probably being asked for a decade or more.

of somebody saying, Hey, I'd like to I've got facilities from coast to coast. I want one point of contact for billing, I want one point of contact for invoicing, I want one point of contact for work order administration.

Can you do that? Well we we couldn't, but about three or four years ago we started a program called Right Hide National Service, which allows for a single point of contact for that. And it's it's based differently depending on what the customers are trying to accomplish, whether or not they want to plan maintenance perspective.

Whether or not they just want a reactive service partner. And we we provide some value ads in terms of reporting. They can c kinda get their costs based on facilities, allows them to get a bigger picture of their capital needs potentially down the road. So We can provide it at the micro level and the macro level and and regardless of who you're using, if you're not if you're not maintaining the equipment, eventually it's gonna bite you. So most folks recognize that, but

When budgets get tight, sometimes that that's gets pushed to the side so it's something that's consider it uh all the time for sure. You know, that's an excellent point that you bring up about the the macro level, that national scale too of you know, a single point of contact. That it just has to make it

so much easier on customers that are out there versus having, you know, in this region we got this person, in that region we've got someone else and Yeah, and the and there's oftentimes uh you know, ph if when you talk about those large enterprises there there can be ph you know regional facility managers

And so that allows them to have a little more control'cause they might have five, six, seven, eight facilities in a region. And if they've got the same group of people taking care of this region and the other regions, it it the uniformity should be there, the reporting should be there, the way we go about doing our business should be there. So that way they can sort of provide a little bit of compliance at the local level to make sure it's getting done. Um

That does it for all of our uh pre planned questions. But Joel, uh is there anything that you feel like we didn't touch on that you wanted to either elaborate on or uh or bring to light for our listeners about facility management? I think that about covers it. I I appreciate your time and appreciate the question.

Alright, well thanks for being on the show today, Joel. Um our listeners got quite a lot to think about. And also listeners, be sure to follow Right Height on all social media platforms and visit right height.com for additional information or to connect with a team member.

If you enjoyed this episode of Write from the Source, be sure to subscribe on your preferred listening platform and follow Right Height's social media channels. Want more supply chain logistics solutions for your facility? Is it right?